Jack Welch quits Fortune

10/9/12 1:05 PM EDT

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric who recently suggested the Obama administration had manipulated last week's jobs numbers, has resigned from his role as a contributor to Fortune magazine.

"Welch said he will no longer contribute to Fortune following critical coverage of the former CEO of General Electric, saying he would get better 'traction' elsewhere," Fortune's senior editor Stephen Gandel reports today.

Welch became synonymous with a jobs-numbers-truther movement Friday when he tweeted, "Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers.” Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer publicly criticized those remarks yesterday on MSNBC, and today ran a story citing Welch's record as a "job destroyer" during the 20 years he ran General Electric.

Gandel says Fortune "tried to contact Welch to find out if the resignation was related to our reporting of his tweet, but Welch didn't return our phone call."